Framework rules for self-organizing cities

Self-organization is a key mechanism through which cities spontaneously and dynamically evolve and adjust to changing circumstances. It entails an emerging process: place-based actions and interactions of an unrestricted number of urban agents produce certain physical, social and economic patterns at a global level that in turn coordinate the expectations and actions of actors at the local level. While providing cities with the capacity to adapt, the spontaneous nature of urban self-organization also challenges planning aspirations. Urban planning typically aims to coordinate urban development centrally. However, in the case of urban self-organization, a multitude of indirectly interacting actors unintentionally contribute to the emergence and persistence of urban patterns. This does not only imply that the exact course and outcomes of self-organization dynamics are very hard to predict, but it also means that fully planned and coordinated collective action is by definition impossible. Orthodox top-down approaches to city development are thus of limited help in dealing with the positive and negative effects of urban self-organization. Therefore, this special issue explores what kind of formal rules and other instruments enable planning to relate to urban self-organization. While impossible to fully plan and control, urban self-organization is sensitive to institutional and physical conditions. By targeting these conditions, planners can facilitate and guide urban self-organization. How to do this effectively, while acknowledging that single actors have no direct responsibility for urban outcomes, is considered a real challenge here.